So You Want to Watch Madoka Magica? - a guide - pt 13 (episode 12)

Part 13: Episode 12 - "My Very Best Friend"

This blog post is written by a dedicated fan of the anime and is designed for new watchers to get the most out of the Madoka Magica experience! This is Part 13 out of 14. Please watch Episode 12 before reading this post.
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven

And so, we've come to the conclusion:
The episode starts with Madoka comforting an injured Homura, telling her that she finally understands what Homura had gone through and promising to take care of everything, despite Homura's anguish at the prospect of seeing Madoka become a witch. Madoka then stands up and, at Incubator's urging, finally makes her wish: "I wish to erase all witches from existence before they're even born. Every witch in the universe, from the past and the future, with my own hands". As promised by Kyubey her wish is granted and she becomes a goddess, breaking the Incubators' system at the same time.
Madoka is seen talking to Mami and Kyouko in Mami's apartment. Mami warns Madoka of the consequences of her wish, while Kyouko encourages her in her usual forceful way. Madoka is then seen travelling through space and time, healing defeated magical girls (among which we can see historical figures such as Anne Frank, Cleopatra, and Joan of Arc).
The consequence of her becoming a Magical Girl quickly follows the "rescue" of the other magical girls: due to her wish, the laws of nature have been altered, and the old world will be put to an end in order for a new one to take its place. Homura witnesses the Earth being swallowed in despair from the moon, where she also sees Madoka's soul gem, now the size of an asteroid, traveling through space.
The gigantic soul gem collapses into a Grief Seed and Madoka's new planet-sized Witch form is unleashed: However, true to her word, she erases her own Witch self from existence. The resulting paradox removes Madoka from the universe.
The cosmic sequence continues with Madoka losing her physical humanity to become a force of nature, detached from mankind; however, she is now suspended in interdimensional space, in contact with everyone and everything. After a sequence highly open to interpretation, she finally parts with a tearful Homura, giving her her ribbons as a souvenir with the promise that they may meet again.
The scene cuts to an audition where Kyousuke is playing Charles Gounod's Ave Maria. In two of the seats in the audience are the spirits of Madoka and Sayaka. Madoka apologizes for causing Sayaka trouble, and says that she believes her sacrifices were not in vain. Sayaka responds that she only wanted to hear Kyousuke play one last time, as many more would come to see him in many years to come; she states that she has no regrets and that she believes Hitomi (who is hiding behind the curtain watching the performance) and Kyousuke will be a happy couple, and that while it still hurts a little to see them together, she cannot hold it against them anymore. The two get up and depart, and the scene cuts to Kyousuke as a famous violinist; as the audience applauds for him, he is struck by a memory of the hospital and says Sayaka's name.
Mami and Kyoko, now alive, fight a creature together (revealed later to be a "demon"), and find that Sayaka had used the last of her magic to help Kyousuke and thus disappeared from existence. Mami reflects on how the fate of a magical girl is to disappear before they can cause grief; Homura, wearing the ribbon and thinking of Madoka, says her name and starts crying, and it is revealed that nobody in this world remembers Madoka but her. Homura later sees Tatsuya drawing a picture of Madoka in the sand; she talks to Madoka's parents and find that they also have no memory of their daughter, though she seems to manifest as Tatsuya's imaginary friend. Junko comments that the name Madoka feels nostalgic.
Homura then discusses her story with Kyubey, who says that it's possible everything Homura went through could be her imagination, and there would be no way to prove otherwise. However, he remarks that the concept of harvesting witches for energy would be more efficient than the new method: because there is still grief in the world, it manifests in the form of demons that the magical girls must fight, who upon defeat drop cube-shaped pieces much like Grief Seeds. Homura reflects on the new universe, thinking that this corrupted, grief-filled world is what Madoka sought to protect -- but she will never forget Madoka's wish. She then leaps upon the demons, extending wings of light from her back and carrying a bow and arrow.
After the credits, Homura walks through what looks like either a wasteland or a barrier towards a bunch of demons. Black wings sprout from her back, containing distorted images that resemble those of a witch's barrier; Madoka's voice encourages her, and Homura springs upon them to fight.

And with some hopeful words, Puella Magi Madoka Magica comes to an end.

Questions I will answer:

q: I don't get the ending at all. Help?
a: Madoka fixed the system by removing witches out of the equation. This means all of the magical girls that become witches will just die instead. Magical girls will pass on knowing that they saved a lot of people and won't curse anyone once they're gone. In the new universe Madoka created, magical girls still fight and spread hope. Madoka becomes a witch in the process of granting her wish, because that immense amount of power does not go without consequence. However, since Madoka wished to remove all witches, she kills her own witch, resulting in a paradox. Madoka will now exist as a concept because she needs to exist to remove witches. She becomes the concept of hope, a goddess almost. All memories of her on Earth are erased, except for maybe in the minds of Homura and Tatsuya (her little brother). In the new world she created, magical girls still fight enemies and spread hope, while being on better terms with the Incubators.


q: Why didn't Madoka wish this in the first place?
a: Normally such a wish would be impossible to fulfill as stated by Kyubey, "Your wish is near impossible! Though it might just be possible because of all the world lines converging on you." The system as it is set up would normally reject granting such a wish as it has to be proportional to a girl's cosmic karma or power (actually, it is possible that the wish would be granted as Kyubey is still contractually obligated to grant any wish, but it would instead go unfulfilled as it would fail to meet the required energy input to attain the desired output). Normally a girl like Madoka with an ordinary life would only be allowed to attain an ordinary but still powerful wish, but in Madoka's case it is an exception because she is an anomaly. Usually people with large karmic burden are historical figures that posses a destiny that could change history, but even at that level it would still be quite literally impossible for such a wish to be fulfilled as it would fail to meet the energy requirement to have such a powerful wish granted. It is thanks to Homura's countless time travels that Madoka has accumulated such a large reservoir of cosmic karma, the amount was unprecedented enough to grant her a wish that was powerful enough to rewrite the current laws of the universe that concluded with a paradox. This is an event that literally goes against all odds of ever repeating again. No other girl in history could have such a wish granted, not unless their power/karma was proportional to it, and that doesn't happen naturally.

q: What happened to Sayaka?
a: Madoka explains that she could have changed Sayaka's fate (let her live as a normal girl in the new world) but not without changing Kyousuke's as well. Madoka tells Sayaka that she left their fate unchanged to respect her sacrifice, Sayaka agrees with Madoka's decision. They join the magical girls that fell to despair on a higher plane of existence.

q: What are the enemies in the new world?
a: Some subs I've seen call them wraiths or Majuu and basically they're another form of despair. Madoka fixed the despair of magical girls, not the whole world. A production note says that "they form grief seeds in their bodies by sucking emotions that originally form magic. Humans that get sucked in turn into slaves". So magical girls still have a reason to exist and spread hope to the world.

q: What happened in the after credits scene?
a: Homura faces a gathering of demons somewhere in the new world. (My headcanon is that like Walpurgis Night, a side effect of despair and magic is a large gathering of enemies at one place every so often.) Homura spreads her wings, now witchlike and corrupted. As she walks towards the demons, she hears Madoka's voice encouraging her. She smiles and flies directly into the crowd. The screen fills up with her corrupted magic and cuts to black. My personal conclusion is that she eventually succumbed to despair and hears Madoka's voice before she's about to die. Madoka will take her soul away and save her like all of the other magical girls.

q: Who are the figures in the last frames beside the main characters?

a: Those are the silhouettes of the magical forms of the witches that appeared in the anime. More speculation here. (< this is also my favorite page on the wiki)

q: I am disappointed at the ending because I thought this was going to be a dark and sad show. It's too sweet.
a: Then I think you missed the theme of the entire series. Sure, I advertised the series as a dark deconstruction of the magical girl genre, and it was. But I also advertised it as changing what it means to love, hope, and sacrifice. The show isn't dark for the sake of being "oooooh look I'm so dark and edgy", the theme of the show was hope in the face of despair.
What keeps all magical girls from becoming witches is hope.
What kept Homura from falling into despair because she couldn't save Madoka was the lingering hope that she still could.
And how did Madoka find hope in the face of so much despair? She became it.
This ending is what makes Madoka from being just another daaark deconstruction, but into a beautiful story.
The ending is bittersweet, because everything that Homura fought for does not exist in the memories of anyone else, and is not part of this world. Homura will probably never see Madoka, her best friend, again until the day she dies, which most likely was the after credits scene mentioned above.



SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
Ume Aoki's 4koma
Meduka Meguca - Ante Up.
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions.

Don’t forget.

Always, somewhere,

someone is fighting for you.

As long as you remember her,

you are not alone.

----

So You Want to Watch Madoka Magica? - a guide - pt 12 (episode 11)

Part 12: Episode 11 - "The Only Thing I Have Left To Guide Me"

This blog post is written by a dedicated fan of the anime and is designed for new watchers to get the most out of the Madoka Magica experience! This is Part 12 out of 14. Please watch Episode 11 before reading this post.
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Twelve

Summary if you don't get what happened:
The episode opens with Kyubey talking to Homura in her apartment. He has guessed everything about the nature of Homura's magic and wish, and comments that Madoka's great magical power developed precisely because of that wish. By repeatedly going back in time, Homura inadvertently caused the creation of several parallel universes centered around Madoka; the accumulation of karma from each timeline manifested itself as Madoka's magical power. In this manner, Kyubey says, Homura has created an "ultimate witch."
The media report that the dead body of Sayaka has been found in a hotel room, with no trace to a possible cause. Madoka, along with other classmates, attends her funeral. When asked by her mother whether she knows anything about the cause, she says that she doesn't.
Kyubey talks to Madoka in her room, expressing that he does not understand why humans can experience the death of a single person with so much emotion, and tries to explain the behavior of his race. He makes a comparison to humans raising animals for their meat, calling it an "ideal symbiotic relationship." However, he admits that the comparison is imperfect as Incubators actually recognize humans as sentient lifeforms. He then proceeds to show Madoka the "common history of mankind and Incubators," revealing that some well-known historical figures were in fact magical girls. He refuses to admit his own fault in the cruelty of the magical girl system, claiming that the wishes of girls in question are to be blamed as any wish can be twisted by its own logic. He even comments that if Incubators never came to the Earth, humans would "still be living naked in caves."
Junko Kaname and Kazuko Saotome meet and talk about the death of Sayaka, as well as about Madoka's change in behavior. Kazuko says that this all happened during Sayaka and Hitomi's "fight" over Kamijou and mentions that this is rather hard on Hitomi as well. A very depressed Junko blames herself for being a terrible mother, not being able to help her daughter during a hard time; Kazuko tries to comfort her saying that Madoka needs more time to handle herself and that Junko should believe in her.
Madoka visits Homura's house, where she asks her if it is really not possible to defeat Walpurgis Night alone, as Kyoko said. Homura denies Kyoko's words, but Madoka finds it difficult to believe her. Homura then reveals her true identity and history to Madoka, hugging her.
Walpurgis Night comes. All civilians have been evacuated because of an intense storm, thought to be a supercell; it is revealed that the storm was caused by Walpurgis, who is so powerful that she does not need to hide within a barrier. Homura starts to fight the witch using a large number of weapons, including rocket launchers, falling buildings, a petrol tanker, and a wall of C-4 explosives. However, the witch withstands her attacks, and even starts sending familiars to further attack Homura.
Madoka leaves the main hall of the shelter where her family was evacuated in order to talk with Kyubey. He avoids giving a clear answer on whether or not Homura can defeat Walpurgis Night by herself, persuading Madoka to go see it herself. He also comments that Homura is able to fight because of her hope, which can always be sustained: in the worst case, she can turn back time and try again. Losing her hope would mean turning into a witch; as long as she has hope, there is no escape from her ultimate fate. "Just like all magical girls throughout the history," he remarks.
She proceeds to go outside, but is stopped by Junko. Madoka tells her that she is aware of all the people caring for her, but there's something only she can do to help with the disaster befalling the city. She asks her mother to believe in her, and Junko eventually lets her leave.

After several desperate but unsuccessful attempts to defeat Walpurgis Night, Homura runs out of time. Homura is about to lose hope, realizing that going back in time would only make things worse. Her Soul Gem is near total corruption. Before she can become a witch, however, Madoka grabs her hand and tells her not to worry, with Kyubey in the background. The episode ends with Homura telling Madoka not to do what she's about to do, and Madoka apologizing to her.

Questions I will answer:

q: Are Kyouske and Hitomi at Sayaka's funeral?

a: Yes, Kyouske can be seen at Sayaka's funeral with Hitomi clinging to him. (In the center of the picture above) Their faces are severely silhouetted over, but the shape and style of both Kyouske's and Hitomi's hair is unmistakable.

q: What's the point of Kyubey's speech if he's just repeating what he said in Episode 9 about him not understanding emotions and all that utilitarian crap?
a: What they seem to forget is that Kyubey is trying to convince Madoka that the magical girl's sacrifice has been beneficial not just to Incubators but to mankind as a whole, to deny it would be hypocritical. But there is also another reason for this, anyone who wishes that the Incubators have never been created or arrived to Earth to establish the magical girl system runs the risk of undoing centuries of human progress.

q: Who were the famous historial figure magical girls in Kyubey's explanation?
a:

They were Cleopatra (whose appearance in this episode depicted her famous suicide),

Himiko (Ancient Japanese Queen),

and Joan of Arc.

There are also two unidentified girls.

q: What happened to Homura during the fight against Walpurgis Night? Why didn't she stop time before the building hit her?
a: Homura's timer runs out of sand during the battle against Walpurgis and without it she doesnt have the power to stop time, leaving her with the only option of reversing her timer and travel back in time to do it all over again. However, if she did she would only make matters worse.

Coool Stuff! :

SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions.

Tiffany talks about some things:

I'll rant about something I was meaning to do earlier, but never got around to.
Madoka is not stupid.
She says she's useless and mopes from time to time, but what else can you do when all of your friends are killing things with magic and dying? She's a typical teenage girl trying to figure out what the hell is happening.
I love the scenes where she talked about everything with her parents. And she was so brave in Episode 4 when those people were committing suicide! She did everything she could as a normal human being.
I used to think that Madoka was useless and too indecisive, but now I learned to appreciate all of the main character girls, I found myself most similar to her. (okay, maybe i'm not as friendly to people as her so i'm more of a moemura)

Essay on this here.

Other favorite moments from Episode 11:

this badassery right here.

And all those scenes with Junko, because she's awesome. But you knew that already.

Questions to think about:

-What will Madoka wish for??
-HOW WILL IT ALL END

So You Want to Watch Madoka Magica? - intermission

Hello to the few readers here. There's going to be a delay on these posts until this Friday because I just started high school and need a little bit more time. I could make a little analogy to the viewers back in 2011 who had to wait more than a month for Episodes 11 and 12 because of the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami, but really I just need another day to get caught up. Use this intermission time to hype up the last two episodes and please, please, go to the link below to speculate on the ending.
http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Speculah:Let%27s_Predict_the_Ending

- Tiff

So You Want to Watch Madoka Magica? - a guide - pt 11 (episode 10)

Part 11: Episode Ten - "I Won't Depend on Anyone Anymore"

This blog post is written by a dedicated fan of the anime and is designed for new watchers to get the most out of the Madoka Magica experience! This is Part 11 out of 14. Please watch Episode 10 before reading this post.
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Eleven Twelve

Ok, this one may be longer:
This episode centers around Homura. Most of the mystery behind her origin and behavior in previous episodes is explained.

Image summary of the timelines.

Timeline 1
In the original timeline for Homura, she was a normal human girl suffering from a heart disease. She is shown just released from the hospital and transferring to the Mitakihara Middle School, similar to the first episode. She differs in appearance to the Homura we know, though - she wears glasses and wears her long hair tied in two braids. Her personality also feels different - she is a lot more shy and clumsy.
Madoka, Sayaka and other new classmates try to befriend Homura, which makes her feel uneasy. During a talk with Madoka, she admits finding herself worthless, not unlike Madoka does in the timeline of other episodes. Homura's problems during math and sports classes (probably related to being out of school for a long time) contribute to her depression, which makes her get suicidal thoughts on the way from school.
Presumably because of these thoughts, she wanders into the barrier of witch Izabel. She is quickly saved by Puella Magi Madoka and Mami, with Madoka asking her to keep their jobs a secret from schoolmates. Later, during a visit at Mami's apartment, Madoka reveals that she's been contracted only for a very short time. Homura feels fascinated about her magical friends, similar to how Madoka acts in initial episodes.
Some time later, Madoka and Mami fight Walpurgis Night together, with Homura following them as a human. Mami is defeated quickly, then Madoka apparently manages to defeat the witch, but at the expense of her own life. Homura cries over Madoka's dead body, and accepts Kyubey's proposal to become a Puella Magi, her wish being "I want to redo my meeting with Kaname-san. Instead of being protected by her, I want to protect her!" The contract is formed, with Kyubey commenting that the wish has "surpassed entropy".

Timeline 2
Homura wakes up in a hospital, on the date she was released in the previous iteration, having a Soul Gem in her hand. After transferring to school, she instantly tells Madoka about becoming a Puella Magi, hoping for good cooperation.
Madoka and Mami train Homura the Puella Magi, who turns out to be extremely clumsy, despite having the very powerful ability of stopping time. Meanwhile, Homura reads online guides about making explosives, contributing to improving her skills. While still clumsy, she plays the most important role when the trio - now good friends - fights with the witch Patricia.
The next scene shown is after the Walpurgis Night - after defeating the witch, Madoka's Soul Gem turns into a Grief Seed and she becomes a witch.

Timeline 3
The time goes back again, and Homura wakes up at the exact same place and time as previously. Scared and angered by the discovery of the true nature of the contract with Kyubey, she decides to tell the other girls immediately. Sayaka, who in this timeline became a Puella Magi, too, doesn't believe her and accuses her of collaborating with Kyoko, whom apparently only Homura has met yet.
Sayaka also tells that she feels afraid of Homura's explosives, which makes Homura go to a meeting of some armed formation and steal some firearms, all in frozen time. Since Sayaka turns into a witch, presumably for similar reasons as in Episode 8, Homura uses the firearms during the fight with her to protect Madoka, and also defeats her, even though Madoka and Kyoko try to make Sayaka human again in a fashion similar to Episode 9.
Upon seeing the true nature of Puella Magi herself, Mami breaks down and attempts to kill all the magical girls, including herself, in order to prevent their eventual transformation into witches. She kills Kyoko first by shooting her Soul Gem and attempts to kill Homura by binding her, but before she can do so, Madoka uses her beam arrows to kill her. The remaining two fight on the Walpurgis Night together, and defeat the witch, having their Soul Gems fatally tainted, though. Madoka heals Homura with a Grief Seed she was hiding, and asks Homura to prevent her from becoming a Puella Magi next time she'll go back in time. Homura agrees, and grants Madoka one more wish of hers -- killing her to prevent her from becoming a witch.

Timeline 4
Upon waking up in the familiar hospital, Homura changes her presence by magically healing her eyes, wearing the hair down and taming her emotions -- just how she looked in all the previous episodes. She warns Madoka at night (with Madoka recognizing her to some extent as she says "Homu...") and goes hunting all the witches.
On Walpurgis Night, the dream sequence from Episode 1 is shown again. Homura watches Kyubey persuading Madoka and screams to prevent her from forming the contract, but Madoka doesn't seem to hear it.
Off-camera, Madoka forms the contract and defeats the witch with just one shot, but becomes a witch (Kriemhild Gretchen) herself shortly after. Kyubey comments that she may destroy the whole Earth in near future. He has collected an enormous amount of energy from her already, though, so he doesn't care about it anymore.
Homura refuses to fight Madoka the witch, saying that "This is not my battlefield," which makes Kyubey realize that she's from a different timeline.

The episode concludes with Homura in the current timeline, saying that she will continue repeating timelines if it's all for Madoka's sake.

Questions I will answer:

q: When we see Madoka in the first few timelines, she is already contracted. What was her wish?
a: In the Drama CD "Memories of You" (included in the Coool Stuff! below), her wish was to save a cat named Amy who was ran over by a car.

This cat!

Other known wishes were:
Save Homura from Walpurgisnacht in the fourth timeline.
Save Sayaka in the new timeline from The Different Story.

q: When we see Madoka in the first few timelines, she is already contracted. Why in the last couple timelines she is not?
a: Because either Homura somehow stops Madoka from contracting on the first day she lands in the timeline or her wish works really well and she gains the ability to go back before that and protect Madoka from Kyubey.

q: Why doesn't Homura just wish Madoka back to life?
a: First of all, we already established that bringing someone back from the dead is nearly impossible and only Madoka has that such power. But, there's other possibilities.
Homura could have wanted to save Madoka and the city, she did not want Madoka's sacrifice to be in vain. After all, if the magical girls did not care for the city, they could have evacuated like everyone else or just run away from Walpurgis Night.
Perhaps Homura wanted more than just being protected by her friend; perhaps deep down she wanted to return the favor by protecting Madoka.

q: If Kyubey and his species have the technology to travel back in time, why couldn't they just fix the entropy problem by reversing it?
a: We learn that Kyubey can only grant the ability to travel back in time. He is only part of the process to create it, so they do not possess the ability itself. The power of time travel rests only within Homura because of her wish.

q: From where did Homura steal from to get her weapons?
a: She steals from Yakuza hideouts and the GSDF.

q: Why does Oktavia Von Seckendorff look different in Timeline 3?
a: There are some bizarre elements that haven't been properly addressed in the anime series. In timeline 3, Kyousuke as a guitaris. One possible explanation for this is that Homura is not only going back in time but also going to parallel universes (different universes) contained within the multiverse.
Gen Urobuchi stated that he didn't really think too much about the mechanics of Homura's time loops, so the nature of Homura's power is not only a mystery, but it is not fully understood not even by the creative source.
There are ways to explain the change in instrument using only time travel. Perhaps someone made a wish that changed Kyousuke's past, and the effects persisted in future timelines because the wish changed events that happened before the point where the timelines diverged, when Homura woke up in the hospital. Kyousuke might be proficient with both instruments, and some event during the time loop period might inspire him to prefer one over the other. However, these speculations are based on guesswork, since the show's creators have not yet provided details.

q: Why did Mami have a breakdown and try to mercy kill everyone?
a:

This was not explained way too terribly well in the anime, but the Different Story manga fleshes out this issue a bit more. It is speculated that Mami is suffering from survivor's guilt. She feels remorseful for having wished to save herself in that car accident instead of using her wish to save her parents, who were also caught in the crash, as well. Mami even mentions how wonderful it would be like to use one's wish to help others. Driven by her guilty conscience Mami tries to save as many lives as she can to make amends for her selfish wish.When see realizes that in the end she will start to curse others, she will break down. (This is also another reason why Homura was so cold towards her in later timelines.)

But even when having a mental breakdown, she's still pretty tactical. She ties up Homura so she can't use her timestop power and proceeds to take out the girls in order of power.

q: How many timelines did Homura go through?
a: This is extremely debatable. Only 4 timelines were shown in this episode before the current timeline of the anime. The Different Story manga and the Oriko Magica manga depict 2 more presumably canon timelines.
The PSP game presents several more. At a Nitro+ Q&A Panel it was revealed that Homura went through at least 100 timelines.
"Q: How many timelines did Homura go through? A: Approaching 100."
But I am skeptical, because this theory has not been proven fully and I don't know if Homura ages as she repeats so many months over.

q: Sooo... where are Homura's parents...?
a:

Coool Stuff! :

The Different Story manga, by Hanokage. An alternate timeline. Incredibly heartbreaking.

Drama CD: Memories of You:

A longer story of the first timeline.

SF Debris' Analysis - love this guy.

Mark Watches

Matt High's Review
Ume Aoki's 4koma
Meduka Meguca - Rabu.
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions.

Who protects who?

A fanmade music video of another alternate timeline

A comparison of parallels from Episode 10 and 1. SHAFT is comprised of geniuses.

Witches that appeared in this episode:
Izabel
Patricia
Roberta
Kriemheld Grethchen (Madoka's witch)
Walpurgis Night

Tiffany talks about some things:

Now that we know Homura is a time traveler, I strongly advise you to go back and watch the series up until this point over again, if not at least the first episode. All those mysteries surrounding Homura suddenly will start to make sense after the rewatch. It's really cool how they wrote this show.

Also many have pointed out that Madoka's power is getting stronger and her fate is getting worse with each timeline:

Timeline 1: Madoka triumphs on Walpurgis Night, possibly only after Mami has already weakened the witch. Madoka somehow dies from her wounds from the battle. This seems to be the weakest of all the Madokas
.
Timeline 2: Madoka is victorious on Walpurgis night and does not die from her battle injuries. However, she immediately transforms into a witch afterwards. We do not know if Madoka as a witch is especially strong or not.

Timeline 3: Madoka wins with only the assistance of Homura. They would be capable of surviving if it were not for the blackening of their Soul Gems. Madoka clings to her humanity longer compared to her last incarnation.

Timeline 4: Madoka is able to stop Walpurgis night in just one hit. Obviously stronger compared to the timeline 1 version. Kyubbey mentions how strong Madoka had become, surpassing his expectations. Her witch form has the power to destroy the whole planet.

Questions to think about:

-How is Homura going to face Walpurgis Night this time?
-Will Madoka's fate be changed? Is it possible?
-How will it all end?

Stay tuned.

So You Want to Watch Madoka Magica? - a guide - pt 10 (episode 9)

Part 10: Episode 9 - "I'll Never Allow That to Happen"

This blog post is written by a dedicated fan of the anime and is designed for new watchers to get the most out of the Madoka Magica experience! This is Part 10 out of 14. Please watch Episode 9 before reading this post.
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Ten Eleven Twelve

Summary if you don't get what happened:

Sayaka becomes a witch and Kyouko enters her maze, holding Sayaka's now soulless body. Homura saves Kyouko and while they are walking off, they meet Madoka, worried upon seeing Sayaka's body. Homura explains everything to Kyouko and Madoka.

When Madoka is crying alone in her room, Kyubey enters and explains everything in detail to her. He reveals that he is a member of an extraterrestial, emotionless society, worried about the total energy in the universe lowering due to entropy. Puella Magi and witches are a way to counter this, creating energy from wavering emotions of young girls. As Kyubey and his peers are emotionless, they are unable to produce such energy themselves. Because of this, they also don't understand the concept of human morals. Madoka is saddened and angry because of all those revelations she has just heard.

Kyouko is maintaining natural heat of Sayaka's body using her magic. She asks Kyubey whether it is possible to recover Sayaka's Soul Gem. He dodges the question, saying that nobody ever tried it before and due to the very existence of Puella Magi is contradictory, such achievement wouldn't surprise him.

The following day, Hitomi attempts to speak to Madoka but Madoka avoids her. Kyouko makes Madoka skip school, with a quest to rescue Sayaka instead. She explains her plan to ignite human emotions in the Oktavia Von Seckendorff, the witch whom Sayaka became, by having her best human friend talk to her. Madoka agrees, and they go to Oktavia's maze. Madoka tries talking with Kyouko protecting her, but with no effect. Kyouko commits suicide, also killing the witch, while Homura (who went out from school and entered the maze to protect Madoka) takes fainted Madoka out.

The episode ends with Homura and Kyubey talking in Homura's house, with Kyubey revealing that rescuing Sayaka was in fact impossible, but he didn't stop Kyouko from doing so to make Madoka become a Puella Magi, given that Homura alone will not be able to win against Walpurgis. Homura says that she won't allow it.

Questions I will answer:

q: Kyubey entropy sciency thing, how does it work?

a: ...
(I am an 9th grade girl like these magical girls, so I am understanding this to the best of my ability, with lots of help from the internet.)

These two videos are simple explanations of the concept of entropy. But basically, entropy is a measure of disorder or progressing towards thermodynamic equilibrium. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the total entropy of any closed system will increase, meaning it will become more disordered.
A blog post from another anime site says that Kyubey's explanation to Madoka about entropy is not that great (but then again, explaining science to eighth graders is difficult). "A good example of how entropy works has to involve heat. Imagine a glass of ice water sitting in a closed room. Over time, the ice will melt as the glass of ice water becomes warmer. In the same sense, the room will get very slightly colder. After a long time, the glass of water will be the same temperature as the room. Because everything is the same temperature, heat and energy can’t flow or do useful work. There’s heat in the room (the total amount of heat has not changed, actually), but it can’t do anything."
That "same temperature" part is thermodynamic equilibrium. There are no net flows of matter or of energy, no phase changes, and no unbalanced potentials (or driving forces), within the system. A system that is in thermodynamic equilibrium experiences no changes when it is isolated from its surroundings. And when the whole universe is like this, so begins the heat death of the universe. To elaborate, this term describes the point at which the universe has reached a state of maximum entropy -- when all available energy has moved to places of less energy. Once this has happened, no more work can be extracted from the universe. Since heat ceases to flow, no more work can be acquired from heat transfer. This same kind of equilibrium state will also happen with all other forms of energy. Since no more work can be extracted from the universe at that point, it is effectively dead.
Kyubey is an alien. He wants to offset entropy and delay the heat death of the universe. Kyubey's species then discovered Magic, forces created from fluctuation of emotion, unbounded by the First Law of Thermodynamics. However, his species is largely incapable of feeling emotion and they scoured the universe for species with the most emotional potential. He found Earth's human females, particularly the ones developing secondary sex characteristics (going through puberty). So Puella Magi and Witches are the result of his quest. When witches are defeated a high energy capsule of despair is dropped, a grief seed, which Kyubey harvests. Diagram here.

q: I am a scientist and I think that Kyubey's process is BS extremely convoluted.
a: Yes, I know. The wiki and lots of blogs on the internet see flaws in Kyubey's motivations. I have yet to understand why the wiki says "Kyubey's flawed solution to the entropy, explained with a no break.", but its probably because of its disregard of the First Law of Thermodynamics or the "negentropy" proof that "life is not a closed system".
So yes, I am fully aware that Madoka Magica isn't perfect and certain aspects of the show are not bulletproof in plot holes.

q: Kyouko has a nice place.
a: That's a hotel. She probably busted a lot of ATMs to rent that for a night.

q: What did Kyouko hand Madoka before going to fight Oktavia?

a: It's a snack called Umaibou. I used to eat the Chinese brands of this a lot, in which it was sweet and called something along the lines of "bean stick".
Kyoko's use of Umaibou as a sign of friendship with Madoka in this episode can be seen as baton passing, as her main role ended in this episode. It's also possible that she chose Umaibou due to its extremely low price (9 yen) being something that she can afford, since Sayaka didn't accept stolen goods back in episode 7.

q: What is the significance of the name "Oktavia Von Seckendorff"?

a: Sayaka's witch name is Oktavia von Seckendorff. Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff was a German poet who wrote a book called "The Wheel of Fate" (Das Rad des Schicksals), and could explain Sayaka's wheel attack.
Seckendorff was also the name of a Frankish knight from a noble family.
Oktavia is the German form of the latin name Octavia which means "the eighth" (child, month or musical interval) or "from the family Octavia". It is the direct root of octave in English (an octave being the eight interval of a scale). The name was most likely chosen because of the link between Sayaka and music.
It might also reflect how her first appearance was in episode eight.

q: Why does Oktavia attack with wheels?
a: "The Wheel of Fate" thing above, and also it may also symbolize the Wheel of Fortune from tarot, whose popular interpretations include "possibilities, opportunities, new developments, sudden changes", which fit Sayaka's life from when she encountered Kyubey to when she became a Witch. Wheels are also commonly used as a symbol of martyrs in Christian art, as many martyrs were tortured to death by them.

q: Why did Kyouko sacrifice herself?
a: So Sayaka wouldn't have died alone.

q: Madoka gonna contract?
a: You'll see her as a magical girl soon.

Coool Stuff! :

SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
More Information on Oktavia Von Seckendorff
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions.

and i'm home

If you like Vocaloid like I do, may I also point out the composer of this song is wowaka!

Since they couldn't splice in the song in the movie, they added a hidden frame of the song's picture when Kyouko blows up her soul gem.

More examples of incredible directing
The chairs in that scene are shoutouts to the anime Bokurano.

Kyubey "lying" to Kyouko further reading

Tiffany talks about some things:

Kyouko and Sayaka in the afterlife together as illustrated in the manga. Animated here.

Okay, I know a couple of you reading and a good chunk of people that watched the show in 2011 are yuri fans. Now, I'm not entirely into that stuff myself, but you can look at the yuri undertones in the Sayaka/Kyouko pairing, they do present a lot of good observation.
But we're pretty sure Sayaka ain't a lesbian.

Questions to think about:

- What is Homura going to do once Walpurgis Night comes?

Okay, tomorrow's episode is going to be awesome.
Guess things about Homura's backstory until then.

So You Want to Watch Madoka Magica? - a guide - pt 9 (episode 8)

Part 9: Episode Eight - "I Was Such a Fool"

This blog post is written by a dedicated fan of the anime and is designed for new watchers to get the most out of the Madoka Magica experience! This is Part 9 out of 14. Please watch Episode 8 before reading this post.
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Nine Ten Eleven Twelve

Summary 'cause lots of things happened:

Sayaka finishes off Elsa Maria, but refuses to use the Grief Seed, giving it to Kyouko, and doesn't feel well afterwards. Madoka helps her go back home. They are sitting in a bus stop with Madoka crying over Sayaka's actions. Sayaka tells that all that is left for her in life is fighting witches. Madoka tells that she wants to make Sayaka happy, but Sayaka runs away, telling Madoka not to follow her, while her Soul Gem is dimming.
Kyouko and Homura are talking about Walpurgisnacht in Homura's apartment, Kyubey appears uninvited and tells them about Sayaka's current condition.
Madoka goes to Sayaka's apartment to find out that she's been missing since the day before. She rushes to try to find her.
As Hitomi and Kyousuke are walking home, the two of them stop in a park and have a lively conversation while Sayaka watches from afar.
Sayaka is seen wasting her magic and hunting familiars recklessly. Homura speaks with Sayaka, trying to get her to use a Grief Seed, but Sayaka refuses. Sayaka accuses Homura of putting up false pretenses and always lying to them. Homura admits she is just doing things for Madoka's sake and prepares to kill Sayaka, but Kyouko interferes. Homura uses a flashbang grenade and escapes.　
Sayaka is riding in a train where two hosts are badmouthing their girlfriends and acting misogynistic. She interferes, asking them how they can speak this way about women who love them. Her words grow progressively more fatalistic as she wonders why she bothered trying to save such a worthless world, and darkness begins to overtake her.
Madoka talks with Kyubey and he tells her about her apparent power. He even tells her that she could become a god if she wished for it. She almost agrees to become a magical girl to save Sayaka, but Homura suddenly appears and riddles Kyubey's body with bullets before she can form a contract with him. Homura then breaks down in tears in front of Madoka, who has a strange moment of realization and asks if she has met Homura before. Before Homura can answer Madoka excuses herself and goes searching for Sayaka, ignoring Homura's calling out to her. Another body of Kyubey appears and eats his previous dead body. Kyubey realizes that Homura is a person from another timeline, and Homura says Kyubey's real identity is that of an "Incubator."
Kyouko finds Sayaka and sees that her Soul Gem is almost completely dark. Sayaka says that she remembers her saying hope and despair must always be in balance, and that she's cursed as many as she's saved. "I was such a fool!" Sayaka says, before a single tear drops on her soul gem, causing it to overload with in grief and transform into a grief seed.
The episode ends with Kyubey noting "Since this country calls women who are still growing up shoujo (少女 girls), for girls who on the way of becoming majo (魔女 witches), it's logical to call them mahou shoujo (魔法少女) magical girls."
Sayaka's witch barrier forms in the background...

What did we learn, kids?
- There is no such thing as a selfless wish.
- All magical girls, if they are not killed in battle, will eventually turn into witches.
- As a witch, you will curse as many people as you saved when you were a magical girl.
- Magical girls feed off defeated witches in order to keep themselves from becoming witches.
- Homura comes from a different time.

Questions I will answer:

q: So did Kyubey lie about witches?
a: No. It's true that he withheld information, but he never spoke a mistruth. In Episode 2, he said that magical girls are born from wishes and witches are born from curses. That was not a lie. Saying outright "When you die, you become a witch" to the girls then would not have helped his cause. Kyubey intentionally leaves information out or says it in a way that isn't false, but is misleading, to benefit him. You'll see another example soon.

a: What da hell's going on in Homura's apartment?
a: Those are projections from either computers or magic.
I would like you to look at the projections closely too, to see what Homura's studying.

q: Did Sayaka kill the two hosts on the train?
a: Shinbo says she didn't, Urobochi says it's intentionally ambiguous, and the manga artist Hanokage interpreted as she did.

q: What do you mean "there's no such thing as a selfless wish"?
a: Even though Sayaka wished for someone else, she still wanted to get something back (Kyouske's love). Everyone who makes a wish for someone else's happiness is also unconsciously hoping that it will also benefit themselves, even if only indirectly.

q: What is the significance of Kyubey's true name, "incubator"?
a: Definition - an apparatus in which eggs are hatched.
And, if you haven't noticed, Kyubey's name fits within the word as "in-kyu-bey-tor" (this is why pronouncing it Kyu-bay is important.)
Continuing with this revelation, Kyubey's design is based off an uterus. (When asked what animals were used as the basis for Kyubey's design, Ume Aoki was very cryptic because of spoilers. The only clue she gave is "coil".)

q: Why does Sayaka's grief seed look different?
a: It doesn't. It looks like this.

It looks slightly different in this episode because we assume that's what grief seeds look like when they are first formed/exploded.

q: Madoka gonna sell her soul too?
a: Eventually, right?

Coool Stuff! :

SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
Meduka Meguca - Seyiku lose it
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions.

When Homura shot up Kyubey, she is shown to use a Beretta 92FS pistol. She unloaded a whole magazine (15 shots) onto him.

Nerds watch this show too, so they did an interesting Population Dynamics test to see the ratio of magical girls to witches based on the show's predator-prey system.

The scene on the train was based on a experience Gen Urobochi had.

Brief screenshots from Sayaka's "last thoughts". The first picture's runes translates to "affettuoso", and the second to "tempestoso". Affettuoso and tempestoso are musical styles. Affettuoso means to play a piece with a lingering sort of affectionate tone. Tempestoso means to play it loud and angry.

Billboard with references to a timeline

You may cry now.

Theories that were confirmed:
Kyubey is Evil
Witches are Fallen Magical Girls

Take out your anger on Kyubey
Meduka Meguca - Seyiku lost it.
Become an Incubator and manipulate magical girls in this flash game
Ume Aoki's 4koma
Avoid falling teardrops from reaching your soul gem

Tiffany talks about some things:

So now that we know magical girls become witches, you can safely look at the wiki's witch pages (except the ones from Isabel and beyond) without spoilers. Those pages contain speculation and fanart of them as magical girls.
More speculation here.
The Witch's barrier is a space resembling the magical girl's mental landscape before she became a witch. Her familiars are also projections of the girl's heart. The barrier is also influenced by the location where it formed. There are some interesting concepts for their barriers and themes in the Guidebook. As you can see, they also provide some hints for the magical girl's wish. But the witch may not always be a completely accurate representation of the magical girl and it is difficult to do guesswork figuring out what the witches' magical girl form would be like. For perspective, take a look at Mami's and Kyouko's witch, as revealed in the PSP game.

Also the scene where Sayaka and Madoka are talking underneath the bus stop is so well directed. You can see the rain intensifies in tune with Sayaka's hostility towards Madoka. Remember how in Episode 6 she said she wouldn't let Madoka get in the middle of this? There's also that little clip of her angrily showing Madoka her soul gem in her psyche, with a contrasting red hue.

Questions to think about:

-We now know that Homura is a time traveler, but what are her motives?
-Do you think Sayaka's fate is "fair"?
-What will Kyouko do now?
-What are Kyubey's motives for setting up this whole system?
-What will Homura do when Walpurgis Night comes?

So You Want to Watch Madoka Magica? - a guide - pt 8 (episode 7)

Part 8: Episode Seven - "Can You Face Your True Feelings?"

This blog post is written by a dedicated fan of the anime and is designed for new watchers to get the most out of the Madoka Magica experience! This is Part 8 out of 14. Please watch Episode 7 before reading this post.
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve

Summary if you don't get what happened:

The episode begins with Sayaka in her room, outraged at the fact that Kyubey lied to her and Madoka about the relocation of a magical girl's soul upon making the contract. Kyubey explains that he offered her the contract, and she accepted: in return for a wish, Sayaka has dedicated her life to fighting witches. Because she never asked about the details, Kyubey saw no need to tell her. Kyubey adds that because a magical girl's consciousness is separated from her body, she is able to endure pain that would break a normal person. Touching her Soul Gem, he inflicts a pain on Sayaka equivalent to being stabbed by a spear, as a demonstration of what the pain would be like if her soul were not transferred into the soul gem. She collapses and contorts on the floor for several seconds. Ominously, he notes that although Sayaka can completely ignore any pain if she so chooses, doing so can drastically reduce reaction time to injuries.
The next day, Madoka notices that Sayaka is absent from school and begins to worry. During lunch break, Madoka meets with Homura on the roof of the school and questions her about why she told neither Madoka nor Sayaka about the true nature of the Soul Gem. Homura explains that she had tried to do so before with others, but that no one believed her. She again advises Madoka to avoid involving herself with Sayaka, and tells her that she should not confuse gratitude with responsibility; even though Sayaka has saved Madoka's life, Madoka is not in debt. Homura explains that when a magical girl makes a contract with Kyubey, they are receiving a miracle that may well be worth more than a life. Even if Sayaka had spent her entire life caring for Kyouske, there would have been no chance of him returning to playing the violin. Kyubey grants the impossible, and thus a magical girl's side of the contract is dedicating the rest of her life to fighting. Madoka asks if there's any way for it to end, and Homura bluntly tells Madoka to give up on her friend. Madoka wonders aloud how Homura can be so cold, and Homura responds introspectively, saying, "Perhaps it is because I am no longer human."
Meanwhile, as Sayaka is laying in her bed, tortured by her emotions over Kyouske, she receives a telepathic message from Kyouko who is outside her house, holding a bag of apples. Kyouko tells her that she wants to talk. Sayaka complies and the two head towards an abandoned church. When they arrive at the church, Sayaka asks why Kyouko brought her here. Kyouko offers Sayaka an apple but when Sayaka throws it away, Kyouko angrily walks over to her and lifts her up by the collar, telling her not to waste food. After Kyouko calms down, she starts telling Sayaka about her past and why she chose to become a magical girl as well as the wish she made. Back when Kyouko was younger, her father used to preach at a church. However, her father's preachings began to stray from the original church's teachings, and he was excommunicated. This left Kyouko and her family poor, and Kyouko hated that no one listened to her father's words, so she made her pact with Kyubey to become a magical girl. Her wish was for people to listen to her father. People came in droves to listen to his preaching, and Kyouko fought witches in return for her wish, believing idealistically that she and her father would change the world through this way. Somehow, her father found out about Kyouko's wish, and that the people who came to worship did not do so out of faith, but out of magic. Calling her a witch who tempted men's souls, Kyouko's father snapped under the realization, and one night drank himself into a rage, and forced the family into suicide. Only Kyouko was left alive.
After Kyouko finishes telling her tale, Sayaka asks why Kyouko bothered to tell her. Kyouko tells Sayaka that she is headed on the same path as she once was when she became a magical girl, and she wants her to avoid those mistakes, and live for herself instead of for others. Sayaka apologizes to Kyouko for misunderstanding her, but informs Kyouko that she will never regret making a wish for someone else. She believes strongly that she will use her powers to save others, and keep those around her safe. In a moment of self-righteousness, Sayaka asks Kyouko where she purchased her apples. Kyouko is unable to answer. Sayaka guesses that the apples were stolen, and turns away, telling Kyouko that she cannot accept stolen food, and cannot in good conscience be thankful for Kyouko's offer in the first place. She then leaves the church, secure in her morals, leaving Kyouko in frustration.
Sayaka attends school the next day, and is joined by Madoka and Hitomi. Madoka worries, but Sayaka assures her she's fine. Sayaka's close friend Kyouske is also in attendance for the first time after being discharged from the hospital. Madoka says that Sayaka should go and see him, but Sayaka declines. After school, Hitomi asks Sayaka to meet her at a cafe where Hitomi tells her that she has had a crush on Kyouske for a long time. This startles Sayaka, but Hitomi says that she will give her one day to confess, because she knows Sayaka has feelings for him too. Though if she cannot confess in one day, Hitomi will do so.
As night approaches, a depressed and confused Sayaka is heading out to hunt witches. She finds Madoka waiting outside. Madoka asks if she can come along, to keep Sayaka company, and this triggers Sayaka's held-back emotions. Sayaka begins to cry, saying that for a moment, she had regretted saving Hitomi's life before, and that she was no good as a moral figure of justice. She reveals that she feels as though she cannot ever face Kyouske with a shell of a body, and is emotionally torn and grieving over the apparent loss of both her humanity and her chance to be with the one she loves. After being comforted by Madoka, Sayaka appears to regain composure, and they head out.
Atop a scaffolding, Kyouko is watching a witch's barrier while eating an popsicle. Homura appears silently behind her, and asks her if she is going to allow Sayaka to take her kill. Kyouko at first brushes this off, telling Homura that since it's an actual witch and will drop a Grief Seed, that it isn't a waste like before. However, she notices strange behavior in the barrier, muttering that Sayaka is losing the fight. The scene switches to Sayaka and Madoka within the barrier where the witch, Elsa Maria, is seated in a prayerlike position. Sayaka then charges forth at the witch, which defends itself with snakelike animals and and vines. It fends off Sayaka, injuring her, and Kyouko soon comes to her rescue. Kyouko is about to attack the witch when Sayaka gets up and tells her to stay out of it. Sayaka again rushes forward, this time cutting past the vines, and reaches the witch. She slashes at the witch repeatedly, and begins to laugh insanely while blood splatters on her face. "He was right. If I don't want it to, it doesn't hurt at all," are Sayaka's closing lines before she bisects the witch, referring to Kyubey's comment in the beginning of the episode about purposely numbing pain. The scene fades to black, and Madoka's voice is heard pleading, "Stop. Please stop."

Questions I will answer:

q: What exactly was Kyouko's father teaching that was different to the doctrine?
a: We don't know exactly. Kyoko's father could be an Anglican priest since he is married with children, also his clergy outfit is similar to their style. Another evidence is that his cathedral shares some architectural similarities to the Canterbury Cathedral.
According to Kyoko, her father was an extremely kind and sensitive man. So sensitive that he was in constant worry due to the state of the world's affairs. In her own words: "He was too honest. Too kind. Every morning reading the paper, the worries of the world brought him to tears". As a result of this he started preaching new ideas born more from his convoluted (idealistic) emotions rather than continue to preach the acceptable doctrine, which got him and his family to become destitute and hungry.

q: How did Kyouko's father find out about Kyouko's wish?
a: According to supplementary info (The Different Story manga), there was a witch fight near the church that led to the revelation. In the PSP game, he then went to a shopping outlet (as seen in where Hitomi is walking around in Episode 4) and told everyone there to believe the exact opposite of what he'd been telling them... and they swallowed it as cheerfully as what he taught them before. Imagine how horrifying to realize your followers were there because of magic, not because of their own will.

q: You said earlier that you were going to reveal Kyouko's power, the one that related to her wish.
a: First, you gotta listen to Farewell Story, a Drama CD included with the Madoka BD disk set. Find it in the "Coool Stuff!" section below.

q: What is Elsa Maria praying to in her barrier?
a: A monstrance.

Coool Stuff!

Farewell Story Drama CD:

We find out here that when Mami was talking about how wishing for others doesn't always end well, she was talking about Kyouko. We also see that her special magical ability was Rosso Fantasma, or the ability to create decoys. Rosso Fantasma is "red phantom" in Italian and is another cute attack name by Mami.
From an interview: "Kyouko's magic is actually rather unique. Due to her wish for 'people to listen', her true magic is something like charming or illusions. That's the kind of magic she had. However, after losing her family she began to subconsciously reject that magic, and thus by the time of the events in the anime she had already lost those powers. That's why she only fought with the magic she learned after that. We had that all set up behind the scenes, but were never able to work it into the story to explain it explicitly."
Once Kyouko rejected her wish, she also rejected her powers.

SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions

Elsa Maria
Type: Shadow Witch
Nature: Self-righteousness
She continually prays for all of creation and drags all life equally into her shadow without breaking her posture. One hoping to defeat her must know the blackest anguish.

Sebastian
Type: Shadow Witch's minion
Nature: Blind belief
They are an aggregate of the lives who have found salvation thanks to the shadow witch. They continually seek out companions.

Gisela [Fought by Kyouko in her flashback]
Type: Silver Witch
Nature: Liberal
She dwells in a barrier where everything moves at high speed, but the witch herself is dull. She unfortunately can not use any sort of scientific power. Her body was once dazzling with silver, but she has tarnished gazing upon the coastal sunset.

Dora
Type: Silver Witch's minion
Duty: Declaring opinions
She makes a nuisance of herself with the roaring from the pipes extending from her body as she moves about like a freak sandstorm. She hates magnets.






Tiffany talks about some things:

The Elsa Maria fight is mind-blowingly more improved in the Blu-Ray version.
In the Blu-Ray ending credits roll, 龍輪直征 (Naoyuki Tatsuwa) and 岩崎良明 (Yoshiaki Iwasaki) are newly joined as コンテ協力 (cooperative storyboard artists). Some fans are guessing they revised the storyboard for the battle with Elsa Maria.

Also, we figure out why Kyouko eats so much. She eats gratuitously because her family never had enough to eat before she made her wish. It is also possible that Kyouko is suffering from an eating disorder brought by the traumatic death of her family, or to erase the memories of hunger, as those emotions are tied to her traumatic past.

Questions to think about:

- What is Sayaka's fate now?
Answer the previous questions that haven't been answered yet.